Recent changes to XCAT_pLinux_Clusters

XCAT_pLinux_Clusters modified by Guang Cheng Li

Guang Cheng Li — Mon, 18 May 2015 06:24:06 -0000

--- v333
+++ v334
@@ -352,20 +352,10 @@

 ### Remove an image

-If you want to remove an image, rmimage is used to remove the Linux stateless or statelite image from the file system. It is better to use this command than just remove the filesystem yourself, because it also remove appropriate links to real files system that may be distroyed on your Management Node, if you just use the rm -rf command.
-
-
-You can specify the <os>, <arch> and <profile> value to the rmimagecommand:
-
-~~~~
-    rmimage -o <os> -a <arch> -p <profile>
-~~~~
-
-
-Or, you can specify one imagename to the command:
-
-~~~~
-    rmimage <imagename>
+If you want to remove an image, rmimage could be used to remove the Linux stateless or statelite image from the file system. It is better to use this command than just remove the filesystem yourself, because it also remove appropriate links to real files system that may be distroyed on your Management Node, if you just use the rm -rf command.
+
+~~~~
+    rmimage <osimagename>
 ~~~~

XCAT_pLinux_Clusters modified by yangsong

yangsong — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 02:41:33 -0000

--- v332
+++ v333
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@
     chdef -t node -o pnode1 netboot=grub2
 ~~~~

-*Redhat 7 provides methods for consistent and predictable network device naming for network interfaces. These features change the name of network interfaces from traditional "eth[0...9]" to predictable network device names, see[CONSISTENT NETWORK DEVICE NAMING](https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/Networking_Guide/ch-Consistent_Network_Device_Naming.html). The provision might fail if "installnic" or "primarynic" is set to "ethx". To prevent this consistent network device renaming, an option "net.ifnames=0" can be set to "addkcmdline" attribute of node or osimage.
+*Redhat 7 provides methods for consistent and predictable network device naming for network interfaces. These features change the name of network interfaces from traditional "eth[0...9]" to predictable network device names, see[CONSISTENT NETWORK DEVICE NAMING](https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/Networking_Guide/ch-Consistent_Network_Device_Naming.html). In case you need to preserve the "ethX" naming scheme, please specify the option "net.ifnames=0" in "addkcmdline" attribute of node or osimage to prevent the consistent network device renaming.

 ~~~~
     chdef -t node -o pnode1 -p addkcmdline=net.ifnames=0

XCAT_pLinux_Clusters modified by

Tue, 07 Apr 2015 15:05:26 -0000

--- v331
+++ v332
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@
 *Redhat 7 provides methods for consistent and predictable network device naming for network interfaces. These features change the name of network interfaces from traditional "eth[0...9]" to predictable network device names, see[CONSISTENT NETWORK DEVICE NAMING](https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/Networking_Guide/ch-Consistent_Network_Device_Naming.html). The provision might fail if "installnic" or "primarynic" is set to "ethx". To prevent this consistent network device renaming, an option "net.ifnames=0" can be set to "addkcmdline" attribute of node or osimage.

 ~~~~
-    chdef -t node -o pnode1 -p kcmdline=net.ifnames=0
+    chdef -t node -o pnode1 -p addkcmdline=net.ifnames=0
 ~~~~

XCAT_pLinux_Clusters modified by

Wed, 01 Apr 2015 20:38:17 -0000

--- v330
+++ v331
@@ -264,6 +264,13 @@
 [[include ref=Installing_Stateful_Linux_Nodes]]

 ### Begin Installation
+
+
+    nodeset compute osimage=mycomputeimage
+
+
+Now boot your nodes... 
+

 ### Use network boot to start the installation

XCAT_pLinux_Clusters modified by yangsong

yangsong — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 09:08:51 -0000

--- v329
+++ v330
@@ -121,8 +121,8 @@

 "pxe" or "xnba": for X86* platform;
 "yaboot": for IBM Power platform;
-"grub2-tftp" or "grub2-http": for IBM Power LE platform, Redhat7.x and newer Redhat family on Power BE platform; 
-"grub2": same as "grub2-tftp" to keep backward compatibility
+"grub2-tftp" or "grub2-http": for IBM Power LE platform, Redhat7.x and newer Redhat family on Power BE platform. The difference between the 2 is the file transfer protocol of grub2 to fetch the os kernel and initrd;
+"grub2": same as "grub2-tftp" to keep backward compatibility.

 ~~~~

XCAT_pLinux_Clusters modified by yangsong

yangsong — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 09:04:45 -0000

--- v328
+++ v329
@@ -116,9 +116,15 @@
 *Make sure that the address used above ( 192.168.0.1) is the address of the Management Node as known by the node. Also make sure site.master has this address.

 *Make sure the attributes "netboot" is set correctly according to the OS and hardware platform:
+
+~~~~
+
 "pxe" or "xnba": for X86* platform;
 "yaboot": for IBM Power platform;
-"grub2-tftp" or "grub2-tftp": for IBM Power LE platform, Redhat7.x and newer Redhat family on Power BE platform 
+"grub2-tftp" or "grub2-http": for IBM Power LE platform, Redhat7.x and newer Redhat family on Power BE platform; 
+"grub2": same as "grub2-tftp" to keep backward compatibility
+
+~~~~

 #### **RHEL 7 Notes** ####

XCAT_pLinux_Clusters modified by yangsong

yangsong — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 09:00:56 -0000

--- v327
+++ v328
@@ -114,6 +114,11 @@
 *Make sure the attributes "installnic" and "primarynic" are set up by the correct Ethernet or HFI Interface of compute node. Otherwise the compute node installation may hang on requesting information from an incorrect interface. The "installnic" and "primarynic" can also be set to mac address if you are not sure about the Ethernet interface name, the mac address can be got through getmacs command. The installnic" and "primarynic" can also be set to keyword "mac", which means that the network interface specified by the mac address in the mac table will be used.

 *Make sure that the address used above ( 192.168.0.1) is the address of the Management Node as known by the node. Also make sure site.master has this address.
+
+*Make sure the attributes "netboot" is set correctly according to the OS and hardware platform:
+"pxe" or "xnba": for X86* platform;
+"yaboot": for IBM Power platform;
+"grub2-tftp" or "grub2-tftp": for IBM Power LE platform, Redhat7.x and newer Redhat family on Power BE platform 

 #### **RHEL 7 Notes** ####

XCAT_pLinux_Clusters modified by Guang Cheng Li

Guang Cheng Li — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 09:43:28 -0000

--- v326
+++ v327
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@

 ### (Optional)Set up customization scripts

-xCAT supports the running of customization scripts on the nodes when they are installed. You can see what scripts xCAT will run by default by looking at the xcatdefaults entry in the xCAT postscripts database table. The postscripts attribute of the node definition can be used to specify the comma separated list of the scripts that you want to be executed on the nodes. The order of the scripts in the list determines the order in which they will be run.
+xCAT supports the running of customization scripts on the nodes when they are installed. You can see what scripts xCAT will run by default by looking at the xcatdefaults entry in the xCAT postscripts table. The postscripts attribute of the node definition can be used to specify the comma separated list of the scripts that you want to be executed on the nodes. The order of the scripts in the list determines the order in which they will be run.

 To check current postscript and postbootscripts setting:

@@ -246,9 +246,7 @@
     chdef -t node -o node01 -p postscripts=foo,bar

-(The -p flag means to add these to whatever is already set.)
-
-For more information on creating and setting up Post*scripts: [Postscripts_and_Prescripts]
+For more information on creating and setting up customization scripts: [Postscripts_and_Prescripts]

 ## Install Stateful Nodes

@@ -262,32 +260,26 @@
     rnetboot compute
 ~~~~

-
-
-
+The rnetboot is a time consuming process and does not handle the scalability configuration well, if the system p nodes are managed through DFM, the commands rbootseq and rpower will make the process be much more effective:
+
+~~~~
+    rbootseq compute net 
+    rpower compute reset
+
+~~~~

 [[include ref=Monitor_Installation]]

-
-
-
-
 [[include ref=Install_Additional_Packages]]

 [[include ref=Install_OS_Updates]]

-
-
-
-
-
 ## Stateless Node Deployment

 The following section (and its subsections) is the standard xCAT procedure for building and deploying a linux stateless image. Some of the example commands refer to the x86_64 architecture, but the procedure is the same on ppc64. Just replace x86_64 with ppc64. Also, when it comes time to boot the nodes, use rnetboot instead of rpower.

-
 [[include ref=Using_Provmethod=osimagename]]

@@ -299,6 +291,15 @@
     rnetboot compute
 ~~~~

+When the statelss node is and up and running, the xCAT postscripts will set the node to boot from network, so you could use **rpower compute reset** for the subsequent stateless bootups.
+
+The rnetboot is a time consuming process and does not handle the scalability configuration well, if the system p nodes are managed through DFM, the commands rbootseq and rpower will make the process be much more effective:
+
+~~~~
+    rbootseq compute net 
+    rpower compute reset
+
+~~~~

 ### Check the installation result

XCAT_pLinux_Clusters modified by Guang Cheng Li

Guang Cheng Li — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 09:25:29 -0000

XCAT_pLinux_Clusters modified by Guang Cheng Li

Guang Cheng Li — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 09:24:59 -0000

--- v324
+++ v325
@@ -109,37 +109,37 @@
     monserver=192.168.0.1 xcatmaster=192.168.0.1 installnic=mac primarynic=mac
 ~~~~

-
-**Make sure the attributes "installnic" and "primarynic" are set up by the correct Ethernet or HFI Interface of compute node. Otherwise the compute node installation may hang on requesting information from an incorrect interface. The "installnic" and "primarynic" can also be set to mac address if you are not sure about the Ethernet interface name, the mac address can be got through getmacs command. The installnic" and "primarynic" can also be set to keyword "mac", which means that the network interface specified by the mac address in the mac table will be used.**
-
-**Make sure that the address used above ( 192.168.0.1) is the address of the Management Node as known by the node. Also make sure site.master has this address.**
+**Note:**
+
+*Make sure the attributes "installnic" and "primarynic" are set up by the correct Ethernet or HFI Interface of compute node. Otherwise the compute node installation may hang on requesting information from an incorrect interface. The "installnic" and "primarynic" can also be set to mac address if you are not sure about the Ethernet interface name, the mac address can be got through getmacs command. The installnic" and "primarynic" can also be set to keyword "mac", which means that the network interface specified by the mac address in the mac table will be used.
+
+*Make sure that the address used above ( 192.168.0.1) is the address of the Management Node as known by the node. Also make sure site.master has this address.

 #### **RHEL 7 Notes** ####

-**If you are using RHEL7, "yaboot" is deprecated, the netboot method for system P must be set to "grub2". 
+*If you are using RHEL7, "yaboot" is deprecated, the netboot method for system P must be set to "grub2". 

 ~~~~
     chdef -t node -o pnode1 netboot=grub2
 ~~~~

-**Redhat 7 provides methods for consistent and predictable network device naming for network interfaces. These features change the name of network interfaces from traditional "eth[0...9]" to predictable network device names, see[CONSISTENT NETWORK DEVICE NAMING](https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/Networking_Guide/ch-Consistent_Network_Device_Naming.html). The provision might fail if "installnic" or "primarynic" is set to "ethx". To prevent this consistent network device renaming, an option "net.ifnames=0" can be set to "addkcmdline" attribute of node or osimage.**
+*Redhat 7 provides methods for consistent and predictable network device naming for network interfaces. These features change the name of network interfaces from traditional "eth[0...9]" to predictable network device names, see[CONSISTENT NETWORK DEVICE NAMING](https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/Networking_Guide/ch-Consistent_Network_Device_Naming.html). The provision might fail if "installnic" or "primarynic" is set to "ethx". To prevent this consistent network device renaming, an option "net.ifnames=0" can be set to "addkcmdline" attribute of node or osimage.

 ~~~~
     chdef -t node -o pnode1 -p kcmdline=net.ifnames=0
 ~~~~

-
 ### Configure conserver

 The xCAT rcons command uses the conserver package to provide support for multiple read-only consoles on a single node and the console logging. For example, if a user has a read-write console session open on node node1, other users could also log in to that console session on node1 as read-only users. This allows sharing a console server session between multiple users for diagnostic or other collaborative purposes. The console logging function will log the console output and activities for any node with remote console attributes set to the following file which an be replayed for debugging or any other purposes:

 ~~~~
-    /var/log/consoles/<management node="">
-~~~~
-
-
-Note: conserver=<management node> is the default, so it optional in the command
+    /var/log/consoles/<node_name>
+~~~~
+
+
+Note: /var/log/consoles/<node_name> is the default console logging file, could be changed through updating the "logfile" attribute in /etc/conserver.cf

 #### **Update conserver configuration**

@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@
 ~~~~

-### Check rcons(rnetboot and getmacs depend on it)
+#### **Check rcons** #####

 The functions rnetboot and getmacs depend on conserver functions, check it is available.

@@ -165,13 +165,11 @@

 If it works ok, you will get into the console interface of the pnode1. If it does not work, review your rcons setup as documented in previous steps.

+
 ### Check hardware control setup to the nodes

 See if you setup is correct at this point, run rpower to check node status:

-
-
-
 ~~~~
     rpower pnode1 stat
 ~~~~
@@ -179,46 +177,25 @@

 ### Update the mac table with the address of the node(s)

-**Before run getmacs, make sure the node is off.** The reason is the HMC cannot shutdown linux nodes which are in running state.
+**Before run getmacs, make sure the node is off.** The reason is the HMC may not be able to shutdown linux nodes which are in running state.

 You can force the lpar shutdown with:

 ~~~~
-    rpower pnode1 stat, if node is on then run
     rpower pnode1 off
 ~~~~

-
-
-If there's only one Ethernet adapter on the node or you have specified the installnic or primarynic attribute of the node, using following command can get the correct mac address.
-
-Check for *nic definition, by running
-
-~~~~
-    lsdef pnode1
-~~~~
-
-
-To set installnic or primarynic:
-
-~~~~
-    chdef -t pnode1 -o blade01 installnic=eth0 primarynic=eth1
-~~~~
-
-
-Get mac addresses:
+Run the getmacs command with -D flag to get the mac address of the system p node:
+
+~~~~
+    getmacs -D pnode1 
+~~~~
+
+The getmacs -D command will reboot the nodes to openfirmware console and input openfirmware commands to list the network adapters, and then use the ping test to try which network adapter is connected to the management node. This is a time consuming process and does not handle the scalability configuration well, if the system p nodes are managed through DFM and the nodes only have virtual network adapters(LHEA and SEA), use getmacs command without -D will make the process be much quicker, but the only problem is that getmacs will not be able to know which network adapter could be used to connect to the management node.

 ~~~~
     getmacs pnode1
 ~~~~
-
-
-If there are more than one Ethernet adapters on the node, and you don't know which one has been configured for the installation process, or the lpar is just created and there is no active profile for that lpar, or the lpar is on a P5 system and there is no lhea/sea ethernet adapters, then you have to specify more parameters for the lpar to try to figure out an available interface by using the ping operation. Run this command:
-
-~~~~
-    getmacs pnode1 -D -S 192.168.0.1 -G 192.168.0.10
-~~~~
-

 The output looks like following:
@@ -237,16 +214,12 @@
 ~~~~

-
-
-
-
 #### **Configure DHCP**

 Add the defined nodes into the DHCP configuration:

 ~~~~
-     makedhcp c250f07c04ap13
+     makedhcp pnode1
 ~~~~

@@ -257,7 +230,7 @@
 ~~~~

-### Set up customization scripts (optional)
+### (Optional)Set up customization scripts

 xCAT supports the running of customization scripts on the nodes when they are installed. You can see what scripts xCAT will run by default by looking at the xcatdefaults entry in the xCAT postscripts database table. The postscripts attribute of the node definition can be used to specify the comma separated list of the scripts that you want to be executed on the nodes. The order of the scripts in the list determines the order in which they will be run.